Alexander Sims more than made his mark on the Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series at Silverstone Arena Grand Prix Circuit over the weekend, 1st/2nd May, by taking a sensational race victory on his debut in the category.

Entering the race meeting as an ‘Invitation Class’ driver with his ART Grand Prix team, the Formula 3 Euroseries regular underlined his class during the second of the weekend’s races in particular with a breath-taking drive in wet conditions to destroy the opposition.

Lining up for Sunday morning’s rain-affected race 11th on the grid, by virtue of his finishing position from Saturday’s opener, the 22-year-old MSA Team UK driver scythed his way through superbly and took the lead on lap five.

Opening up a substantial eight second lead during the second half of the race, Alexander’s win was the first of 2010 in British F3 for a Mercedes-powered driver. In addition, he posted the quickest lap of the race by nearly one second to underline his dominance.

Backing-up the result was another impressive performance in the third of the weekend’s races, the 2008 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner finished just a second shy of the podium having battled through brilliantly from 14th on the grid. In total across the three races, he overtook 23 cars – an incredible performance.

Not only was this weekend’s event Alexander’s first experience of British F3, it also marked his maiden outing on Cooper Tires – in the F3 Euroseries the cars use Kumho rubber – and his debut run on the new Arena GP layout of the Northamptonshire track.

“I’m obviously absolutely delighted to have won on my debut in British F3”, said Alexander, “Practice and qualifying proved to be a bit of a challenge but we reverted to a different set-up for Sunday’s races and with the weather creating a level playing field too, everything worked out fantastically.

“Not having run on the Cooper Tires before on this track, we didn’t have the data to know where we needed to be quicker but the team worked hard and gave me a great car for races two and three. It was a bizarre feeling to be so much quicker than anyone else in race two, to win by eight seconds in a 20 minute race – and doing so from 11th on the grid – was really something.”

Next on the agenda for Alexander will be the fifth and sixth rounds of the 2010 Formula 3 Euroseries which will take place over the weekend 22nd/23rd May at Valencia in Spain.

Photo Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography